HYDERABAD: CCS sleuths on Thursday arrested Meka Nethaji, his wife Nimmagadda Vanibala and their son Meka Sriharsha, on charges of defrauding 532 people of Rs 200 crore by promising 24% monthly returns on their deposits.
The trio are proprietors and directors of Priyanka Enterprises, Graphic Systems Pvt Ltd, and Sri Priyanka Graphtech Pvt Ltd, all functioning from Reddy Hostel at Abids in Hyderabad. Vanibala is the general manager of Telangana State Cooperative Apex Bank (TSCAB).
Their arrests were made on a complaint lodged by C Bala Chandra Kumar of Balanagar and several others, under Sections 406, 420 read with 120-B of the IPC and Section 5 of the Telangana Protection of Depositors of Financial Establishment Act.
During their investigation, the CCS sleuths found that in 1985, Meka Nethaji founded Priyanka Finance and Chits, conducting daily finance and chit fund operations. He attracted deposits by offering a 24% monthly return.
He later established Graphic Systems Pvt. Ltd. for trading in printing materials and Sri Priyanka Graphtech Pvt. Ltd. for producing steel castings.
Vanibala, in her role as general manager of TSCAB, persuaded her colleagues to invest their savings and retirement benefits into Priyanka Enterprises, resulting in approximately 140 employees investing Rs 26 crore. Sriharsha joined the family business as a director after completing his B.Tech. The accused were sent to judicial remand.
The police urged the public to avoid investments in unregistered and private firms offering high returns and to opt for government or registered financial institutions for their investments.